


The Essence of Your Soul

by dreikorg



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, Pegoryu Week 2020, Romantic Soulmates, Short One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25823155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreikorg/pseuds/dreikorg
Summary: Soulmates were found when you shared your essence with another person. This phenomenon goes through a different route for  Ren and Ryuji.(Pegoryu Week 2020 — Day 1: Soulmates)
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	The Essence of Your Soul

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic, so ta-dah, here's my debut! Thanks to the Pegoryu Discord users, who have inspired me to finally start writing.
> 
> (edit: I'm a moron who can't proofread to save his life, I wrote half of it using Ren and the other half using Akira lmao I vastly prefer Akira as a name for Joker, but Ren is the canon name so I tried to go with it. Clearly my fingers don't agree)

To Amamiya Ren, “soulmates” was a concept that filled him with dread. His parents were soulmates, brought together after their successful wedding night that had granted him their own child. Because, you see, soulmates were found once you shared your essence with another person. This so-called essence was a fiercely debated topic throughout history. Many philosophers believed that the ‘essence’ was simply a rather abstract name given to what occurred during sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, others thought that the ‘essence’ was the devotion shared between two lovers and what granted them happiness with each other.

Ren had always been partial to the latter interpretation since the devotion between his parents and to him had been apparent as a child. He could admit though, that the devotion dedicated to him didn’t always show in the healthiest of manners. His parents were strict, or what they called diligent, trying to keep him on a path to success. He was raised as a gentleman, as a scholar, as an athlete, as anything that opened another possible avenue to fruitful adulthood.

And then, he fucked up.

He had been on his way home from cram school when he witnessed an older man trying to force himself on a younger woman, and after he got involved, everything concluded into a terrible consequence. He was being sent to Tokyo to live out the rest of his probation, away from everything he knew.

His parents weren’t kind when they found out what happened. “ _We’ve raised you better than this, Ren_ ”, they had said at first. “ _You raised me to do this!_ ”, he had wanted to say. But he refrained. He had been more than aware that no adult was inclined to listen to him or his “excuses”. The remarks of his parents had become worse with time until he departed for Tokyo.

Now he was under an awning waiting for the rain to stop, wishing that he hadn’t forgotten to pack an umbrella with his things. Although considering all his belongings fit in a cardboard box… yeah, he can’t blame himself about that. After foregoing getting in the car with a creepy man and a beautiful blonde, despite his reservations of letting her go alone, he could only sigh in irritation.

That’s when a loud faux-blond guy came to him. 

* * *

Sakamoto Ryuji didn’t believe in soulmates. Don’t get him wrong, he knew they existed as they were a widely-known phenomenon, and his grandparents had supposedly been soulmates themselves, but his own family only proved to him that soulmates were completely botched and only a source of problems.

His dad —if he could even be called that— and mom weren’t soulmates. It was proven when after one too many fights, his father came home one morning with a tattooed black band around his ring finger. Which he hadn’t had before.

From what he remembered of that chaotic Wednesday morning, his mom apparently had been aware of the cheating, but him finding a soulmate while sleeping around and compounded with the physical and mental abuse on his wife and kid, made Sakamoto Ruki kick his husband out. After tearful explanations and the evident absence of his father when he didn’t ever come back to see Ryuji, they never spoke of him again.

So yeah, Ryuji didn’t want to be involved in the soulmate business ever again, thank you. Too bad that the universe didn’t agree with him.

Waking up in the dungeon of a castle with a kid he had vaguely been both rude to and friendly with, wasn’t one of his plans either. While the other guy —Mamoji or Amamiya or something similar— looked around the cell to try and find the key that would let them out, he decided to just look at him.

He was grey and plain. Nothing about him made any kind of impact on Ryuji at first, besides the tightness of his features. The only splash of color on the other’s image was in the accents of red that were part of the Shujin uniform. His hair was black, his glasses were black and enormous, his shirt was white and his eyes were grey. _Grey, grey, grey_ , was the only thing that came to Ryuji’s mind.

Ryuji wasn’t any kind of artist but he had an eye for color. He was especially attracted to bright colors, especially yellow, which was featured in his own bleached and colored hair. But this other guy almost blended into the background, until the guards with that bastard Kamoshida came in their cell and a demon burst out of the other boy.

His terror about the “execution” Kamoshida was threatening them with was oddly soothed by the appearance of a gentlemanly demon with dark wings and a top hat. His whole being was singing in relief, a sensation of _longing_ ringing in his bones. Minutes later, after rescuing an odd cat-shaped monster out of another cell, did he only notice the new feather-like etchings in his ring finger.

The freakout that followed was loud enough to bring the weird group of escapees to the attention of the patrolling guards, but thanks to Morgana’s directions they were able to escape. Panting harshly after their adventure, they finally went to school, Ren none-the-wiser about Ryuji’s new soulmark. And Ryuji had no plans of telling him.

Trying to figure out the pervert’s castle the next day with Ren was a pump of adrenaline shot directly to his heart, not only because of the horrors found in the dungeons of the castle but because of his new relationship with Ren. Ryuji had forced him to call each other by first names, and Ren apparently wasn’t bothered by it, but he was also trying to keep the other boy at arm’s length. Ren hadn’t mentioned anything about new soulmarks, so Ryuji’s was the only development on that front and he didn’t want to make any further advances. Soulmates were not for him.

Ryuji’s resolve to stand back and let his ~~soulmate~~ friend and the cat take care of the Shadows in the Palace was tested in the Entrance Hall, especially after they fell to the attacks of those weird horses and when Kamoshida decided to break his other leg.

Ren’s encouragement to stand up to Kamoshida and fight raised his spirits. _He’s right_ , thought Ryuji, _I need to fight_.

Moments later, Captain Kidd set sail.

* * *

Ren's rebellious spirit might have been at an all-time high, but his energy wasn’t. Those horse Shadows had definitely had an impact on him and Morgana, leaving them sprawled on the floor at the mercy of Kamoshida’s Shadow. But Ryuji decided to defy him once more at his encouragement.

He watched the Shadows being blasted away by the blue fire pouring out of Ryuji, a skeletal pirate on top of a boat rising from his skull. The sight of Ryuji’s Persona made his blood sing, energy flowing through his body suddenly. Arsène burst out of Ren’s mask with a burst of fiery wings, helping Ren stand up. Ren went to help Morgana up but his gentlemanly Persona flew away from him to meet Captain Kidd halfway between Ryuji and him. Their eyes met.

Ryuji’s eyes were wild with satisfaction, power, and rebellion. Ren’s were filled with wonder, the image of Ryuji bathing in flames while wearing a leather outfit searing into his brain. The invisible weight around his ring finger was clear now and had he looked under his red gloves, he would’ve found an intricate design depicting bones. A smirk appeared on Ren’s face, mirroring Ryuji’s shark grin.

Morgana was stood up, looking at their Personas, observing but clearly not understanding the gravity of their interaction. Putting it out of his mind, he turned back to the Shadows and commanded the pair of soulmates to get ready and back to action.

They both gladly did.

* * *

Once they had left the Metaverse, they turned to each other in the alley.

“Ugh, I’m dead tired… How you holdin’ up?” asked Ryuji.

“I could use a nap,” answered Ren with a soft smile.

Ryuji didn’t respond, busy looking at his ring finger. “I guess there’s no use hidin’ it now, huh.”

“Hiding it?” asked Ren, bemusedly. “Didn’t it just happen?”

“Uhh.... no, not really. It happened yesterday for me when your Persona appeared,” explained Ryuji, a hand scrubbing behind his head and a sheepish look on his face. “I was a bit spooked, dude, sorry. I don’t… I didn’t really believe in soulmates.”

Ren hummed noncommittally, sure that there was a story behind that conviction. But… it wasn’t his place to ask. _Not yet_ , a soft voice whispered in his head.

“It’s fine, I’m glad it happened though,” he commented.

A sunny smile filled Ryuji’s features. “Me too, man! Do you want to go for ramen with me? I haven’t eaten since lunch and I’m starved!”

“Sure, our first date,” said Ren impishly. Ryuji blushed furiously and sputtered, making Ren laugh. “Let’s go.”

“Man… I guess it’s a first date,” muttered Ryuji to his collar. Ren pretended not to hear him. Ryuji raised his voice. “About what we saw in the castle… wanna help me find those guys Kamoshida treated like slaves?”

Ren just nodded. He had more important things in his mind. To him, “soulmates” was a concept that used to fill him with dread. Now, it was only excitement. 

_Tokyo doesn’t look so bad anymore._

**Author's Note:**

> This belongs to Pegoryu Week 2020, which starts today! I might post some other short fics for the other days, but no promises :x


End file.
